MGilchrist

Hi Myst Welcome to the site, plenty of guppy lovers around, as you can already see from the replies Mark

Could you send me the details for the diy skimmer as well, would like to experiment sometime

Just starting to get into Discus in a community tank, with cardinal tetras, bristlenose catfish, blackline flying fox, harlequin rasbora. At the moment the discus are about half grown. and 1 platy that i missed when selling off all the old fish, keep meaning to take him into the fish shop. Mark

Low Order=primitive plants eg Algae High Order=The plants we like eg Amazon Sword

Welcome to the forum Greg1 Purchasing Discus, I would suggest when you get settled in over here join a local club. Someone here will be able to give details. (not that I can talk, still haven't joined one myself) Stainless steel heater, brought two recently $60 each Haven't brought any tanks for a long time, make my own, glass and silicone for a four foot cost $220 Fluval 404 Filter $322 If you are in a major centre then do try second hand, lots of bargains. Welcome again Mark

Welcome to the fishroom Jelte There certainly is a lot more gear readily availible for the hobby these days. Others are better at advice than me, but one thought have you tested the water you use for water changes for nitrates. I have heard that occasionally the water supply can already have nitrates. Mark

Looks like a good strong design, glad we can all learn from your near miss, glad for you it was a near miss. Guess the oscar must really be sulking now just got all that space to wander around in and now back to the little tank. Mark

Good looking fish Andrew

What do the plants have for nutrition, are they planted into a good substrate (peat or laterite) or just into plain gravel. They will be getting some food from the fish wastes but not exactly the right stuff for good growth, if needed a plant food for tropical tanks will give them a good boost. Agree with Ira about the lights, not enough light then no growth. The fluffy dark stuff is probably an algae, keep the water clean and feed the plants and this may slow the algae growth Have a look here the articles show photos of some of the more common types of algae and how to control. http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/ Mark

Phew! was woried there for a bit. The Discus have just started taking flake food, so they get a pinch of that morning and night (as much as they can eat in about 5 min, any more and they ignore it) and a cube or two of bloodworms daily. Mark

Warren said Warren, my Discus are still only half size and older than this, I am pretty sure the LFS did about 50% once a week, I do now about 75% once a week. So my question is if i increase the water changes, will they still grow or are they stunted. Mark

Puppies, how cute :lol: But I guess there would be a permanent wet dog smell in the house Mark

Fair enough, we're all trying to make things the best we can for our finny friends. Mark

Welcome to the forum Ash Good looking fish Mark

A kh of 1 is very low. kh or carbonate hardness is your ph buffer, the carbonate ions and other stuff that make up kh are alkaline and help to stabilise your ph. your old kh of 2 is acceptable if still a little low. your old gh of 8 is moderately hard but not exceptionally so. why did you modify the water, were you having problems with the fish or just trying to make better living conditions for them?

Hi Robbo. Anything that adjusts the hardness of the water will almost definately affect the ph. Can you define your hardness levels, my test kit uses different units mg/l for kh, so i can't tell much from your readings. That said unless it is to one extreme or another a lot of hardier fish will manage. Bit of searching on the interweb thingy should tell you what your fish can live with. Or ask here, others here have much more knowledge than me

Welcome Sucky Fish Plecos and Bristle Nose are cool, used to have a couple of big plecos and got some bristle noses now great fish to watch. Mark

Welcome to the forum Trudy Very impressed, 18 tanks is a big way to start.

What else is in the tank, some things such as peat substrate can lower the PH and rocks containing calcium can raise it.

Welcome CraigJ Looks like a good setup to start with, but be warned they seem to grow and grow and before you know it there's a tank in every room Good Luck and let us know how it goes. Mark

Hi Robbo Welcome to the fishroom. I am much the same as you, kept fish for years and years, knew nothing about cycling. came back to the habit about 2 years ago and started learning all this "new" stuff.

Welcome David Its a great community here.

Congrats, always a great feeling to see a new tank full for the first time.

Not a shop, but the Sydney aquarium in Darling Harbor is worth a look. The reef section is amazing.

Speaking of large tanks, I have always liked the idea of a large plywood tank, say 6ft by 4ft by 4ft. I have seen an article about a tank like this that was stocked with a massive school of tiger barbs. Cool.